


It happened one night

by rage_fork



Category: Faberry - Fandom, Glee
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27089020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rage_fork/pseuds/rage_fork
Summary: Faberry centric, a bit of Brittana jealousy, a bit of Samcedes and Klaine. set season 2 post-Finn breakup, pre-Nationals. Quinn goes to an all Glee party at Noah Puckerman's house not intending on staying for long. She ends up staying for much longer than shed hoped. All set in one night.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Comments: 8
Kudos: 81





	It happened one night

Quinn sighed as she looked upon the room of her teammates. From the look of it, this seemed it would be worse than she’d thought. There were at least 6 visibly drunk people: Santana, who took a sip from a cup of straight vodka shed just poured and was glaring at Brittany. Brittany was attempting to grind on Sam who was trying to keep a respectable distance, clearly one the less drunk end. Kurt was doing some sort of lazy wiggle to the music with Blaine, who was holding a water bottle. Good to know at least one other person was going sober at this party, Quinn thought. Even though Blaine wasn’t in the glee club, he now kind of got an automatic invite as Kurt’s boyfriend, and also as they weren’t competing anymore. Lauren and Puck were dancing provocatively on each other, which wasn't out of the ordinary other than the slight wobble of their movements and the red solo cups sloshing in their hands. Okay, they’re definitely drunk. The last person was Tina who was currently staring at a religiously themed painting on the wall and laughing intermittently. 

The remaining glee club members seemed to be either teetering on the edge of drunkenness, or on their way there. Well, other than one other Rachel. The small diva was easily navigating through the drunken bodies (being of such small stature) and clearing empty solo cups and general rubbish into a black bin bag. 

“Quiiiinnn!” Tina slurred from next to her, when did she get there? Tina pulled Quinn into a hug while spluttering and giggling in her ear. “Whelcum to thparddyyyy!” She said while swaying away from Quinn and patting her on the shoulder. This, in turn, earned her a loud “Baby Momma!” From Puck, some loud cheers from Kurt, Mercedes, and Brittany and friendly smiles from Mike, Sam, Blaine, and Artie. Finn glanced at her, pretending not to see her. Which, even if she hadn’t just seen him look at her, would still have been practically impossible from Tina’s noisy greeting. Attempting to ignore the regret of ever dating someone that stupid, she diverted her attention back to the small brunette. At the same time, Rachel looked up, offering her a small smile, which she returned and went to sit in the corner.

Quinn wasn’t sure where she stood with the girl. The last time they had been ‘friendly’ was when they fought over Finn in the auditorium. They hadn’t talked much since the breakup, other than indirect conversation in glee club. Finn had feelings for the small girl, and Quinn was convinced that was a large factor in their breakup. The aforementioned boy was currently staring at the diva who had returned to her tidying up. She didn't know if she blamed the girl in any way. It would be admittedly easier to blame her. But Finn had expressed how much this was Quinn’s fault that unfortunately, it couldn’t be that simple. 

Anyway, that’s why Quinn had turned up an hour late to this thing and she was not planning on staying for long. Also, she wasn’t planning on drinking. Let alone her track record with drinking at the Puckerman’s, she also didn’t feel like getting drunk with these people. If she wanted to get drunk she’d just do it at home. It's not like her mom would notice. 

She snapped out of her head, deciding this wasn’t the night to think about family issues, or else she might end up drinking after all. Looking over the room, everyone was progressing in their drunkenness and the stench of booze lingered in the cramped living room. People were dancing - if you could call it that - in groups and red solo cups were found in almost every pair of hands. Her eyes drifted over to the corner where a certain brunette was nibbling on chips and absently bopping her head to the music. Suddenly, she was being pulled up onto her feet by a drunken Kurt while Blaine just smiled and watched his boyfriend’s balance. The small girl safely placed her bag of chips on the sofa and was reluctantly pulled onto her feet. Their gazes locked again and Rachel mouthed ‘help’ in her direction, realizing the blonde must have seen the whole thing happen. Quinn diverted her gaze quickly, not knowing why she panicked so much at the other girl’s awareness of her watching her. Which in turn made her realize how much weirder it must have looked when she didn’t even acknowledge the girl. Maybe shed inhaled some of the alcohol in the room… surely that's a thing.

Shifting her view to find something to divert her attention her eyes landed on Santana. The Latina was one of the furthest gone in the room. She was only vaguely moving her body while completely distracted by staring at Brittany and sam. As far as Quinn knew, she was still ‘dating’ Karofsky (Yet, Quinn had known for a long time about Santana and Brittany) but the girl didn’t seem to care right now as she openly glared at the respectful boy. He was interested in the persistent blonde but was also distinctly less drunk than her so was keeping a reasonable distance between them. Snixx wasn’t having any of it though. Santana sidled up to Puck, tripping over nothing on her way, and whispered in his ear. Lauren shot her a look, thinking she was coming onto him. Puck didn't seem to notice and instead grinned lopsidedly and shouted “SPIN THE BOTTTTTLLEE!” Over the music. Brittany threw her hands up and whooped and a couple of others just grinned as everyone congregated in the middle.

Quinn stayed seated, praying the drunken teens would just assume she was part of the furniture. To her surprise, Rachel stalked back towards the sofa she had previously resided on after last time shed thought the girl would be all for it. It didn’t go unnoticed though as she was followed by a frumpy giant. He put on his signature smirk and tried to pull her up. Quinn heard a “come on” and an “it’ll be fun” through the mumbles. She rolled her eyes knowingly and waited for- what? At second glance, she saw that the small girl had stayed firmly glued to the sofa, as the grumbling boy retreated to the floor. If Finn had shown the diva that much attention in freshman year, she would be jumping for joy right now. She hadn’t even considered this. Shed just assumed that Rachel would jump at any opportunity with him, obviously as did he. Did she not want him back? No, surely not. Then why would Rachel confront her so diligently about her and Finn’s relationship? She probably just wasn’t in the party mood, Quinn decided.

Everyone other than Rachel, Kurt, and Blaine (and her obviously) were seated in a circle on the floor of the Puckerman’s living room. The first person to spin was mike, who spun Mercedes. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. The only person to object was puck who stated it wasn't a real kiss, but no-one else seemed to care. Next to spin was Artie. The bottle slowed to a halt on Puck of all people and parties face morphed into one of extreme discomfort. Before anyone could say anything Puck grabbed the boy’s face and planted a very sloppy and exaggerated kiss on his mouth. Puck leaned back and wiped his mouth while patting the other boy on the head twice. The other boy’s face had morphed into one of extreme horror and puck just shrugged. “I ain't no pussy like Chang.” Puck said simply before sitting down next to his girlfriend. Next up was Brittany, who took hold of the bottle, winked at sam, glared at Santana, and spun it. It stopped on sam. She couldn’t tell if that was just chance or if Brittany was just incredibly skilled at spin the bottle. The girl did have some surprising talents. Once, Sue had gotten bored of their cheerios routine so had made them all learn to spin plates. Quinn had spent all weekend trying and had broken 5 plates before she went to target to buy a plastic one. However, Brittany picked up the stick and the plate and by the end of the first hour was balancing the damn thing on her nose. Quinn had never thought she would have envied anyone over their plate-spinning skills. 

She brought her attention back to Brittany who was slowly crawling towards sam. Santana was watching with a mix of jealousy, murderous intentions, and hurt (which would usually be concealed when she wasn’t only running on vodka) plastered across her face. Brittany and Sam kissed for about 10 seconds before sam shuffled away awkwardly, clearly flustered but trying to respect the girl. He was a good guy, even after they broke up, he was quick to forgive Quinn and move on. Brittany just moved back and shot a look at a fuming Santana, who’s face flipped to hurt and back to indifference within seconds. It did worry Quinn that Santana ignored her emotions so easily, even when inebriated. Spinning the bottle, the Latina downed the alcohol in her cup. It spun to a stop on Lauren, whose face quickly resembled Artie’s post-Puck-kiss face from earlier. “Aight I’m out,” Santana said while attempting to stand up. She made a very wobbly two steps before falling on her knees. Nobody seemed to care and Quinn was debating helping the girl out, fully aware that she wouldn’t get the same treatment in return when no-one other than Rachel had wrapped her arm around Santana. She pulled the drunken girl onto her feet and tried to balance her but was having trouble. The small brunette caught Finn's attention, asking for his help, from what Quinn could see (the music was so loud). She watched their mouths closely and saw Finn say something like “just live her shell be five”, Quinn thought, figuring out what he probably said quite quickly. God, she's so glad she wasn’t drinking if this was what she was like sober. She watched as the girl readjusted the Latina on her shoulder and rolled her eyes. Blaine tried to stand but Kurt wasn’t letting him and wasn’t in a state to be very empathetic, so Blaine just mouthed a ‘sorry’ to Rachel. Finn was such a dick, he could have at least helped her up the stairs or something, it isn't particularly hard to get off your fat a- Quinn's train of thought stopped when she realized she was looking into a pair of pleading brown eyes. Rachel was looking at her. Oh shit. Quinn got up onto her feet finally understanding what the diva what asking for. She walked over to the two girls and looped one of Santana's arms over her shoulder. Quinn put her hand on the small of her back- wait- that's a hand. Quickly, she moved her hand upwards to support the girl and ignored the feeling she got when she touched Rachel's hand. 

Together they lead Santana out of the front door and down the front steps. The Latina appeared to phase back into reality as she pushed Rachel off her. “Geroff me Berry!” She slurred loudly, Quinn stepped away to avoid getting pushed, or worse. The girl slumped down onto the pavement and puts her head into her hands. Usually, Quinn avoids her when she's emotional, as Santana does for her, that's just how they work. So Quinn just stands there not knowing what to do. The smaller girl doesn’t hesitate (even after just being physically abused) to sit next to the fragile girl and gently places a hand on her back. “Do you need anything? Maybe some water?” Rachel asks carefully and the Latina just starts to sob. 

Oh god. What do I do? Quinn feels completely out of place and useless but she just feels if she speaks she might say something wrong. She's never been very good at managing her own emotions, although she was admittedly better after the pregnancy, she can't handle a crying Santana. She's never seen the strong cheerio in such a state. Rachel just whispers soothing affirmations and rubs Santanas back. “Quinn’s going to get you some water, okay?” The smaller brunette says slightly louder while nodding at Quinn and giving her a small smile. Kicking into motion, she heads inside, grateful to feel useful in some way. She fills up a solo cup in the sink and heads back out. She hands the cup to Rachel since the other girl was still curled in on herself but was no longer visibly shaking. Plopping herself down on the other side of Santana, she didn’t feel like going back in. Maybe she'd be of some help out here anyway, in there all she could do was watch and drink and she didn’t want to do either. Rachel lifted the cup to the inebriated girl's mouth but she just snatched the cup off her. “Igan drink on my own, Hobbit, I'm a biggirl.” 

Quinn stared up at the dark sky while listening to Rachel gently questioning Santana. Honestly, it was odd that's next to her drunk out of her mind, emotionally unstable supposed best friend and supposed worst enemy, she felt the calmest she had felt all night. It didn’t bother her too much though. Things in her life had never been so black and white. She'd been the pregnant celibate Christian girl, the most popular girl in the least popular club in school and most recently had been broken up with by the most popular guy in school to pursue the least popular girl in school.

“I thought I told you to leave me alone Berry?” Santana raised her voice as she stood, more successfully than before. 

“Santana, it’s okay. I'm not going to judge you. I'm just trying to make sure you’re okay because you don't seem it.” Rachel tried to reason with the girl.

“Like id wanna talk to you. You wouldn’t get it, nobody would.” Santana shouted before changing her appearance completely and Quinn felt like she might have missed something. “You know what? This blows, I'm going in” she says like she wasn't a complete sobbing wreck only 5 minutes ago. The Latina stumbled back towards the blaring music, leaving her and Rachel alone. She was shocked they hadn’t got any noise complaints from the Puckerman’s neighbors. Actually, they were probably used to Puck’s parties by now. 

“It does concern me how she manages to switch off her emotions so easily. It can’t be healthy.” Rachel said matter of factly. Quinn just looked at the girl, not needing to say anything. She looked up slightly and Quinn suddenly became aware of the silence, watching the brunette's eyes dart across the sky. “It's a nice night.” She states after a while, finally turning her head to look at the blonde. Quinn figured she must have been staring for a bit too long, what was wrong with her tonight. Its got to be the alcohol fumes. Alcohol has fumes right?

“Yeah” She replies still unsure of what to say. She didn’t feel nervous often, and she was not liking it. Especially not in the presence of Rachel Berry. “What time did you get here?” She asks, in an attempt to break the silence that was starting to get awkward.

“Quarter to eight” Rachel replied.

“Oh. Puck told me it started at eight.” 

“Yes, Well I wanted to help set up,” Rachel explained. ‘However, when I got here, Noah hadn’t even gotten dressed yet. He told me he hadn’t expected anyone to get there until half eight. In which obviously, I replied that he should have probably told everyone the party started at half-past eight then and that I was sure I wouldn’t be the only person who would have gotten confused by his cryptic messaging.” The girl finished, clearly frustrated by the memory.

“So when did the first person get here?” Quinn was curious.

“Twenty to nine.” The girl said frowning slightly which made Quinn laugh. The other girl started laughing sheepishly when she realized she wasn’t being laughed at, well, not maliciously. Their laughter died down and the silence seeped in again. Quinn was grateful to not have to be the one to break it this time though.

“If you thought the party started at seven why did you get here so late?” Quinn suddenly didn’t feel as averse to the silence anymore.

“I didn’t want to be here for long. I was only really planning to stay for half an hour.” Short and sweet, nice one Fabray.

“What's the point of even coming then?” Rachel questioned with her brows furrowed.

“I don't know, for appearances I guess. I don't want people to start questioning me.” Quinn stated hoping the diva would take the hint and leave it alone. Suffice to say, she didn’t.

“Is this about Finn?” However the girl looked like she already knew, so Quinn decided to maintain the silence, which was making her feel more comfortable than this conversation. “Are you okay about that?” She wasn’t leaving it alone was she? This is exactly what she had been trying to avoid when she came here.

“Yeah, I think so. I felt pretty bad… or angry for a while after. But I’ve come to realize that I didn’t lose very much from the breakup.” Quinn said thoughtfully. She hadn't meant to say that, at least not in that way. Nonetheless, she realized she hadn’t said anything untrue so was content with the message.

“What do you mean?” Rachel looked even more confused than before.

“Well… I mean... yeah, I got comfort from the relationship and it was fun sometimes. But I think I needed to be out of it to realize that all id wanted was a prom king and a quarterback boyfriend.” She looked over to Rachel who seemed to be listening very intently. It encouraged Quinn to carry on. “Like I wanted the image, not the person. And yeah I care about him but, I'm not sure I ever loved him.” Quinn admitted, yet again shocking herself with her own words. And with the truth. Okay, maybe this talking thing wasn’t as bad as shed imagined. She should do this more often.

“Well, he is a dick” Rachel said bluntly which caused Quinn to burst out laughing. “What? He is” The small girl justified while laughing a little at the blonde’s reaction.

“I thought you two were friends?” Quinn said while calming down a bit. She wasn’t wrong though. Finn could be pretty difficult when he wanted to be.”

“We are, but Finn can sometimes be a little… insensitive,” Rachel said, clearly trying to phrase it a bit more carefully this time. “Like, take before. Santana was completely inebriated and in much more of a state than he was but he just said ‘shed be fine’ and carried on. Regardless of whether it was Santana, I would’ve believed he would at least have enough compassion to assist a friend. Especially since he’s been trying so hard to get into my good books.” Rachel winced recognizing her error “sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. He’s not exactly the most subtle in his advances.” Quinn wished Finn wouldn’t so blatantly throw their relationship in her face by moving on so quickly. But what can she expect from a guy who has not only cheated on her before but also helped her cheat on his close friend and teammate. Not much, clearly.

“Yeah I thought you’d probably have noticed, you seem to be fairly observant. It also doesn’t help that the only time he sees me other than lunchtime is during glee.” Quinn nodded slightly not wanting to acknowledge the feeling of betrayal. “I do want you to know that I have not and do not intend to accept any of his offerings. We are teammates, and I wouldn’t want to cause any more drama than what has already occurred.” Rachel had made it sound so simple and logical when Quinn knew the girl would have been quick to snatch Finn up only a year ago if asked. In fact, she had done exactly that.

“What changed?” Quinn asked, hoping the girl meant she wasn’t interested. It really wouldn’t help her image if it looked like Rachel had been chosen over Quinn, yet again.

“What do you mean?” 

“Do I have to remind you when you set up an entire picnic in the auditorium while we were still dating?” Quinn said jokingly.

“It sounds bad but I kinda just assumed you had no emotions at that point. And even if you did I didn’t care. I'd hope that I've come a long way from that now but my ambition does still get in the way a lot. It tends to make me pretty selfish sometimes. I hope you know how sorry I am for that.” Rachel said. It struck Quinn as she wasn't sure she'd ever heard the diva speak so bluntly.

“It's ok, I'm over it. And you have. Come a long way I mean. Just from seeing how you reacted to both breakups, it shows you have. Also, I wouldn’t blame you if you still blamed me for all the things I did to you, even now. So I don't blame you for not caring how I felt, I would have hated me too.” Quinn admitted. Rachel needed to know she didn’t deserve that.

“I've never hated you, Quinn.” Rachel said turning to look at the other girl and Quinn’s brain completely stopped working. It felt like time didn’t matter right now. All she could see was Rachels eyes like they were boring into her soul. The brunette wasn’t shying away either and they just sat there for what felt like forever. When they heard a crash and a couple of cheers from the house, it quickly felt not long enough as Rachel turned away and cleared her throat. Quinn's head was too fuzzy to make sense of what had just happened so she just looked back up to the sky. 

“Anyway, to answer your previous question, I think I changed.” Rachel started, ignoring whatever had just happened. It made Quinn's heart sink a bit, feeling like whatever it was, it was important. “As you said before, the image of Finn seemed incredibly appealing; the most popular guy in school, the leading man. However, even in our short life as a couple, we seemed to clash too much. He often didn’t listen to me, I found myself repeating everything I told him at least twice. He didn’t support my ideas, at least not when in company. I also preferred when I felt he was at my level, like when he was debating to leave the football team. We didn’t have each other's best interests in mind. We both weren’t contributing as much as we should and I figured we probably would have if we really wanted to make it work.”

“Why did you pursue me so much when you thought something was going on between me and Finn then?” It didn’t add up, why would Rachel care if she didn’t want to be with Finn anymore?

Rachel’s eyes widened for a second which confused Quinn even more. Why did that shock her? It seemed like a little more than innocent curiosity, Quinn hadn’t been able to go a day without being questioned by Rachel at one point. “I don't know. I guess I might have been clinging to the image more than I cared to admit. I have always pursued my future with an unfaltering ambition.” Rachel said logically. Quinn pushed down the feeling like the girl wasn’t being completely honest with her. She had no reason to lie, right?

“Ok then,” she said quickly closing that off for now. “And I agree, it often seemed like you were driving the relationship to me. Like he wasn’t giving as much as you were. If you were to be with someone, I think you would work well with someone who challenges you. But like I said in the auditorium, you have a bright future ahead of you Rachel. You shouldn’t look for anything that might hold you back.” 

“To be honest, I didn’t receive that message. I thought you were trying to hurt me, that's why I lashed out about Finn I think.” Rachel admitted, “ Actually looking back on it now that makes a lot more sense.” She chuckled slightly shaking her head. “It's funny that that's the last conversation we had, it seems like so long ago.” 

“Yeah, it does.” Quinn agreed.

They settled into a comfortable silence for a while before Rachel turned her body to face Quinn.

“You know Quinn, that life you said you were meant for. The housewife for Finn. You shouldn’t settle for that.” Quinn mirrored Rachel’s position. She furrowed her brow, confused at the girl's sudden emotionally-fuelled outburst, and let her continue. “I've been your teammate in glee for a while and I've seen what you can do. You are so incredibly talented, and ambitious. Don't sell yourself short for the life you feel should have. You should aim for the life you want.” Rachel reached out and squeezed Quinn's hand, and she suddenly felt very self-conscious. How was the girl reading into her mind so well? It was kind of freaking her out.

“It’s not that easy Rachel.” Not for her. Rachels talent was undeniable and out of this world. Quinn didn’t have that, she hadn’t ever had the clarity the other girl had.

“You won’t know if you don't try.” The brunette said raising an eyebrow. Quinn had to admit she was getting better at that, even if she didn’t pull it off as well as her or Santana, she appreciated the attempt. It was cute how much Rachel was trying to convince Quinn she was worth it. Rachel let go of Quinn's hand, the sudden cold got to her more than she thought it would. Maybe she should start carrying gloves. “In regards to your relationship with Finn, you shouldn’t settle. Find someone you feel you could have any future with since you’re still looking for yours. But you also don't need to find someone. You did perfectly well rising to the top at Mckinley without anyone's help.”

Quinn appreciated the sentiment, even though she knew it would be much harder in the real world than Mckinley. She hadn’t received this form of encouragement from anyone in her life. Not her so-called friends. The only person who had supported her otherwise was Mercedes. “You know Rachel, I'd like to think we’re more than teammates by now. I mean, after everything we've been through, it has to mean something that we’re here right?” Quinn said hopefully.

Rachel tapped her chin with a playful glint in her eye “How about… Colleagues?” Quinn laughed.

“How about Friends.” She offered, holding out her hand like some sort of business exchange.

The smaller girl tried and failed to contain her wide grin while taking the blonde's hand. “Friends.” The diva affirmed while shaking Quinns hand once. They both giggled and Quinn couldn’t remember when she last felt this carefree and comfortable. She was glad they were friends. “Okay I think we may need to head in, they may start to get worried we've finally murdered each other” Rachel joked.

Quinn didn't want this to end. She wasn’t willing to look into that right now though. “Frankly, I think they’re all too out of it to notice.” Quinn chided.

“Maybe but I am also worried about Santana, I haven’t seen her like that before. Do you mind? Not that I wasn’t enjoying this. In fact, it's genuinely one of the nicest conversations I've had in a while.” 

“Yeah it has and no I don't mind, I'll come back in with you.” She didn’t know why she felt the need to stay, it had been way longer than half an hour but, like a lot of things tonight, she looked past it and followed Rachel in.

When they got in Rachel was quickly approached by a very excited, very drunk Kurt, who was spewing about all the drama they’d missed. Apparently, just after they went out Sam and Mercedes kissed which according to Kurt was ‘akin to something from the movies’ (well more like; “ack-intozumthing from thmovees”). Oddly it didn’t shock Quinn and she thought they’d probably be a sweet couple. But then Kurt got a bit too dizzy and needed to be lead to the sofa by Blaine while calling out for Rachel.

She turned back to Quinn “Are you coming? We've got Artie and Mike up next, you might not want to miss it.” Rachel said grinning.

Quinn snorted “As inviting as that sounds, I think I'm gonna have to keep an eye on S and B, they usually look after each other but I guess they’re fighting right now.” 

“Oh okay, good luck.”

“Thanks”

Rachel turned to walk away but turned suddenly remembering something “Oh and don't worry. I'll let you know if they end up together.” Quinn laughed and they walked towards their respective drunk friends.

*

Quinn had given up on keeping an eye on her friends after a while, realizing all that was happening was Brittany being jealous about Santana and Karofskys fake relationship, so she tried to make her jealous with sam, which just leads to Santana glaring at the two of them and Brittany glaring back every so often. It didn’t make much of a difference if Quinn was there so she just sat back in the corner eating some peanuts. She had no idea why she didn’t feel like going home yet. 

Santana had been the first to pass out, and Rachel had placed a sofa cushion under her head and a blanket over her. Lauren and Puck had passed out on the sofa next to each other. At some point, while Brittany was attempting to give sam a lap dance she passed out on top of him. The boy just carefully slid out from under her and left her lying on the sofa. He then heads over to talk to Mercedes in the corner. Quinn hoped this wasn’t just drunken fun, they would be really cute together, she thought. Mike and Artie hadn't got as drunk as the rest of them so were currently playing poker in the corner. Turns out Mike always carries a pack of cards around with him. Which Quinn thought was an odd choice but seemed to lend itself to this situation well, so who was she to judge. Mike seemed to be winning from the look on Arties' face, so maybe that explained the cards.

Finn and Tina seemed to be in some sort of deep debate sitting crossed legged in the middle of the dance floor. They only broke their intense eye contact when Finn occasionally made googly eyes at Rachel or when Tina sent mike a kiss or a ‘good luck’. Rachel had turned the music down while moving around and cleaning the rubbish into a bin bag like Quinn had observed - wait that sounded creepy- seen? - I guess that's better - earlier. 

The small diva stopped and scanned the room, frowning at the lack of rubbish. She placed the bag in the corner and headed over to Blaine and Kurt who were just whispering to each other. Quinn watched - this was definitely creepy but there’s nothing better to do - the short conversation. It was clear the couple was in a bubble so Rachel ended up kind of standing in the middle, clearly looking for something to do. Her eyes landed on Quinns form, curled up on the sofa, watching her while eating peanuts. Rachel walked over to her and Quinn forced her brain back on straightening up a bit. 

“Hey,” Rachel said slumping down next to her.

“Hi” Quinn replied. Their space was not as comfortable as to where they’d left it and the silence between them still felt a little tense. “So they ended up together, right?” She said gesturing to the two boys playing poker while making competitive faces at each other.

Rachel laughed a little “yeah, it was actually a very moving story, but you got the gist of it.” She joked. “However, it seems they’re not the only ones” They both looked over to Sam and Mercedes. The couple was currently sat side by side viewing the painting Tina was manically laughing at earlier, and talking lowly to each other. She could see sam smiling a lot and heard the occasional giggle from Mercedes. 

“I like them together” Quinn mused.

“Me too, I think Mercedes is one of the only people in Glee club who hasn’t been in a relationship. I hope she and sam work out. I know it's early, but I think there’s something there.” 

“Yeah, I agree. Also after what happened with me and Sam, and how he so easily forgave me for it, he deserves someone who will be honest with him. I can’t think of anyone more honest than Mercedes. Other than coach sue, but brutal honesty is different I guess.” She said thoughtfully.

“That's true. The other day she told me when I'm talking that she imagines I'm a toucan because they’re her favorite birds and it means that she doesn’t find me so annoying. Also, we both have huge beaks.” Rachel looked offended at the memory.

“I like your nose. It gives your face character, and I think it makes you prettier. It's also not as big as people make it seem, its not fair.” Quinn had no idea where that sudden outburst had come from but she forgot about it when she saw the other girl blushing and smiling at her.

“You really don't think it’s that bad?” The diva said looking apprehensive.

“You’re beautiful Rachel,” Quinn said while squeezing Rachel's hand once for solidarity. She wasn’t sure if it was too much that she was being this open with Rachel after only 2 hours of officially being friends. However, Rachel seemed to be fine with it so it stopped bothering her. “ Anyway, I think that Sams a nice guy and would treat Mercedes like she deserves. They're also both undercover nerds so they have things in common.” 

“I mean I kind of knew about sam, he’s almost as bad as Finn in the subtlety department.” Rachel joked.

“That's harsh, no-ones as bad as Finn in the subtlety department” Rachel snorted out a laugh, which on anyone else would probably look weird, but was kind of cute, Quinn thought. They were friends, right? She could think that. 

“What I'm trying to say is-“ Rachel got out as she calmed down from her laughing fit “I would have never have suspected… Mercedes?” 

“Yep, when I lived with her, it took a few days to clear out the spare room as they mostly just used it for storage, so in the meantime, I slept in Mercedes room. She tried to hide everything but I was looking for a pair of gloves - I didn’t think about winter when I was packing my stuff as I was in such a rush - and I opened a cupboard in the corner and I was attacked by an avalanche of comics and action figures.” 

“Oh. My. God” Rachel stressed, thoroughly absorbed by the story.

“There was Captain America, Superman, Spiderman, Daredevil… any superhero you can think of, there was a comic, or a piece of clothing or even an action figure. It was actually pretty cool.” 

“Was there Wonder Woman?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah, from what I can remember, I saw some comics, and I'm pretty sure she had the gold bands somewhere in there.” Quinn said smiling at Rachel’s face when she said ‘gold bands’.

“That is so cool! I love wonder woman.” Rachel mused excitedly.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a comic book geek either?” Quinn said chuckling at the girl's excitement.

Rachel looked offended “I'm not, I just really like wonder woman. A strong woman from a tribe of strong women, fighting for the good of the people. What's not to like?” The small brunette ranted nervously and Quinn could tell there was something she wasn’t saying. Quinn crossed her arms and raised the signature Fabray eyebrow. Rachel looked down “okay and she's really hot” she admitted. Quinn almost choked on the air she couldn’t inhale. That was not what she expected to come from the suddenly timid girl. She didn’t want Rachel to think she was making fun of her but she couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from her stomach, she clutched it as she bent over laughing, unable to hold it back.

“Stop laughing you jerk!” Rachel said slapping Quinn on the arm before starting to giggle. 

“Ow,” Quinn managed to get out through her laughter. 

After a solid 20 seconds of laughter, they finally calmed down only to see Finn, Tina, Mercedes, sam, Blaine, and Kurt staring at them with varying looks of confusion. 

“Rachel thinks wonmm” Quinn announced before Rachel put a hand over her mouth and whispered a “shut up!” While blushing profusely. Quinn couldn’t say she didn’t like the look on her. Everyone went back to when they were doing as they figured they were probably just drunk. 

“You’re such a dick.” Rachel said while smiling slightly, showing she wasn’t serious

Quinn pretended to be shot, clutching her chest as she relaxed into the sofa. They both laughed a little sighing from their laughter high. “This has been one hell of a night” Quinn commented matter-of-factly. “So far”.

“What do you mean?” Rachel said sitting up slightly.

“You’ve never been to a Puckerman party before have you?” Quinn said knowingly.

“No… why? What's the difference between this and a normal party?” Rachel questioned.

“Were in the brief interval,” Quinn commented like it answered all of Rachel's questions but the other girl looked even more confused than before. “So it's only been 3 hours since the party ‘officially’ started” 

“It feels like much longer,” Rachel commented.

“Exactly. Everyone drinks and passes out for some reason at a much quicker rate. It could be Puck's encouragement or just the curse of this house… Anyway, since Puck can hold his liquor pretty well-

“Practice,” Rachel said understanding.

-yes. So he passes out for like, an hour before he wakes up - totally fine by the way - and just cranks up the music. So all the people who aren’t so drunk that they’ve completely knocked themselves out usually end up waking up - still drunk - and carry on partying until the early hours of the morning.”

“So that's why Puck's parties are so legendary?”

“Yeah, I guess you kind of get 2 parties in one.” Quinn ponders. “But if you drink you have one hell of a hangover in the morning”.

“Poor Santana,” Rachel says looking at the girl on the floor with smudged mascara all down her cheeks.

“Yeah” Quinn responds quietly as they slip into a comfortable silence.

*

Ten minutes or so later, as predicted, Puck wakes up. He walks into the kitchen and comes out, replenishing all the snacks and drinks before cranking up the music. The only people who don't return to consciousness are Santana and Kurt and mostly everyone is on the dance floor after 5 minutes of puck turning up the music. Quinn watched Rachel look around incredulously as if she'd just stepped through some sort of time portal. 

All of a sudden, Mercedes came out of nowhere and was pulling Quinn off the sofa. Quinn took a glance at Rachel who was currently focused on the amount of litter that had built up within the 5 minutes of the ‘second wave’. 

Quinn was dancing with Mercedes, Sam, Mike, and Tina due to the insistence of a very drunk Mercedes. She was trying to enjoy it but she missed just sitting and talking to Rachel. At that moment something brushed past her leg, What the - oh. Upon looking down she discovered the mysterious creature was ninja cleaning Rachel. She waded through all the intoxicated, swaying bodies with ease. Quinn found it almost amusing how nobody noticed the small girl running past their legs. At one point Brittany lifted her leg into the air(the girl could dance well even when this drunk, what the hell?) and Rachel ran under it. Completely unnoticed by the owner of said leg or anyone around her which made Quinn laugh out loud. If her friends weren’t so incredibly drunk they’d probably have looked at her weird. The only person who noticed was the cleaning ninja, who turned and saw Quinn watching her, she seemed to brighten at that fact. The diva looked like she was considering something for a second but had soon decided. She ran over to Finn, poked him in the side, and zoomed away. Finn's face was priceless when he turned around and Quinn was glad he was so inebriated or else he’d probably have noticed her laughing at him. Quinn was very much in the opinion that Rachel had used her powers for good. She made eye contact with the girl once again who was grinning mischievously at her and tying up her bin bag. She pointed to the bag then the door to send the Quinn the message. She went back to dancing when Rachel went outside. 

It had been about 10 minutes and she was wondering what happened to Rachel. The last time she saw her she was heading outside to put the bin bag out. Quinn decided to look for the girl, giving her an excuse to stop dancing in the meantime. Heading through the front door, she found the girl sitting on the edge of the pavement, as they were earlier. “We have to stop meeting like this” Quinn joked, catching Rachel's attention. Her shoulders tensed for a second before she saw the owner of the voice and she relaxed and chuckled a bit. “Hey,” Quinn said while sitting down next to her.

“Hello” Rachel responded looking at her and smiling. This was something Quinn could get used to. She was Rachel Berry’s friend. It felt good to hear it, even if it sounded bizarre. If she had told herself a year ago that she’d be friends with Rachel Berry she would probably have laughed. Or said something awful about the girl. She hoped this would last past tonight.

“What are you doing out here then Berry?” Quinn asked.

“I wanted some fresh air. It's warm in there with it being so cramped, and the running around doesn’t help much.” Rachel replied looking up at the stars but Quinn sensed something else there. She didn’t know when shed suddenly become the Rachel Berry expert, but it seemed to be helping her out right now. 

“What aren’t you saying?” She asked deciding she was allowed to push on this now they were officially friends.

Rachel turned back to Quinn “Do you think we’re going to be like this after tonight?” Rachel asked. Quinn was thinking of how to phrase her response. The brunettes shoulders stiffened “I mean it's not like I wouldn’t want to. It's the opposite, I want to be your friend Quinn. I really enjoyed talking with you tonight and I don't wa-“ 

“Yes, I really do” Quinn interrupted, trying to ease the girl from her nervous rant, and she visibly relaxed. 

“I don't want to cause you any problems. You know, with Santana, or your popularity, or…”

“Finn?”

Rachel nodded.

“Firstly, I'm not even on the cheerios anymore, I gave up my popularity to do what I enjoy. Which is performing with the glee club. Secondly, Santana can shove her opinion up her ass for all I care.” Rachel looked as if she was about to object but Quinn raised an eyebrow, and the girl shut her mouth. “Thirdly, Finn, and I are done. He doesn’t have any power over me or anyone I call a friend. Or who I choose to call a friend.” She said gesturing to Rachel slightly.

“But he does tend to get a bit… over-protective with the people he’s interested in. And I don't want him confronting you or anything. Not that you’re threatening me or anything. He just might think… that you…” Rachel trailed off not knowing how to finish without offending Quinn. Quinn smiled at the girl's sensitivity understanding what she was trying to say.

“Don't worry Berry, I can protect myself.” ‘Especially against that sack of potatoes’, Quinn left out “if he has any problem with us being friends I will set him straight. I know that my past actions may cause certain people to be wary. Especially since Finn and I broke up so recently. And I'm pretty sure everyone knows he's trying to get with you now. So ill understand if people assume the worst, but I'm not going to stop being your friend because of that.” Quinn said.

“Okay, I just don't want you getting berated just because you decided to be my friend.” Rachel said.

“You can't change people's opinions in a day. I'll just have to show them over time.” Quinn replied.

She looked up at the sky but noticed the brunette hadn’t stopped staring at her. “What's wrong?” Quinn asked wondering if she had said something wrong and turned to look at the girl next to her. The girl didn’t say anything, and Quinn felt something below the silence that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

All of a sudden the girl spoke up “You’ve just changed so much.” The girl said looking shocked.

Quinn chuckled at the girl's shock. “Thank you.” She said simply not knowing what else she could say.  
Her answer seemed to satiate the dive and they settled into a calm quiet, just looking at the stars and listening to each other breathe. 

After a while, she decided to ask the question lingering in her head. She thought she was just being paranoid earlier, but it had been bothering her all night. It just didn’t add up. Yet, she didn’t know why she was so curious. There's no harm in asking. Right? “Rachel?”

“Yeah?” The girl turned her head, startled slightly by the lack of silence.

“Earlier, when we were talking about Finn and everything that happened, you said you were probably just hung up on the idea of him. But I know Rachel Berry and she wouldn’t be that insistent just based on a feeling. I also felt like you weren’t saying everything. Why did you care so much that Finn and I were together?” She finished, finally turning to look at the other girl.

The brunette's eyes widened comically but quickly brushed it off “I was just curious. I'm a very curious person, you know, as you may discover as our friendship progresses. I like to ask the hard questions. I have considered a career in journalism if my broadway dreams were to fail.” Rachel rushed out. What was with all the excuses?

“Rachel, I can tell you’re lying to me. We've been friends for only four hours, this isn’t a way to start a friendship.” Quinn joked trying to ease the girl’s nerves but she just looked more panicked.

“I don't want you to think of me like that Quinn. I will always try to be honest with you. But the truth can sometimes do more harm than good and I don't want to hurt-

-It's okay if you still have feelings for Finn - I mean I wouldn’t exactly be happy about it - but you can’t help how you feel. We're friends now, you can talk to me.” Quinn said putting her hand over the girl's arm.

“It wasn’t about Finn,” Rachel said while looking down at her lap. Well, at least she wasn’t ranting anymore. Hopefully, that's a good sign, Quinn thought.

“You can tell me, Rachel, I'm not going to run away. As I said you’re my friend.” Quinn reassured her but the small brunette tensed more.

“It wasn’t about Finn, it was about you.” She said the last part only a decibel over a whisper. Quinn removed her hand from the girl's arm, confused. What did she mean? Does she not want Quinn to be happy?

“What was about me?”

“I don't have feelings for Finn.” Is all she said, still not looking at Quinn. That wasn’t an answer. Shed already said tha- oh. 

No.

That can’t be right.

She means something else, doesn’t she?

“Rachel?” Is all Quinn could say. The girl looked up at her with a straight face, telling her she wasn’t lying. Quinn felt confusion growing on her but the girl was looking at her like she already knew.

“Do you have feelings… for me?” This was all just a misunderstanding. There's no way Rachel likes her. Rachel’s straight. Rachel loves Finn. But she doesn’t anymore. And I guess shes never explicitly said she's straight. But there’s no way.

All of Quinn's mental debate came to a halt with one word from Rachel. 

“Yes.” 

Holy fuck, Quinn thought. Rachel Berry likes her. Rachel Berry has a crush on Quinn Fabray. Did she step through a portal to a parallel universe? Maybe it's Puck's door. Some sort of bridge between dimensions. That has to be it. Why would Rachel like her? I mean, she did just say how you can’t control how you feel. But this has to be different, right? It just doesn’t make any sense.

“Why?” Her internal debate clearly wasn’t translating to the real world.

Rachel looked taken aback like she had expected Quinn to just run away and never speak to her again. Quinn felt a pang of guilt in her gut, which just added to the washing machine of emotions currently residing in there. “Um- well- obviously you’re physically attractive, I mean, everyone can see that” the brunette started and Quinn's heart fluttered. Well, that was weird. “But you’re so much more. You’re ambitious, strong, confident.”

“Hardly” Quinn interrupted. 

“The way you walk down that hallway every day, after everything you’ve been through, so many people wouldn’t be able to do that Quinn.” Rachel said looking at her with an honest intensity that made Quinn's ears buzz.

“But I'm not special, Kurt’s all of those things. Why don't you like him?” Quinn chided childishly, trying to push down the weird feeling in her heart and her head.

Rachel smiled in amusement quirking an eyebrow, visibly calmer than a couple of minutes ago. The fact the girl seemed so sure about this made Quinn feel uneasy. “Well, firstly Kurt’s gay-

“I'm not gay” Quinn rebutted quickly, not meaning for it to sound so aggressive.

“I know.” The brunettes smile dropped “and secondly, I don't decide how I feel. I just decide how I react to it. And me berating you about your and Finns relationship I think was my proverbial ‘gay panic’.”

Quinn might have laughed if she wasn’t so confused. This all felt like too much. “So you’re gay?”

Rachel made a face “I don't think so. I would prefer not to label myself. However at this moment, if I was made to, I would probably say I am bisexual.” She finished with a nod of her head.

“How are you so calm about this? You know what happened to Kurt at Mckinley. And it's not just Mckinley it's this entire town.” She didn’t know why she was being so aggressive.

“Yes, I am more than aware of what happened to Kurt but I've had a long time to think about this. I'm not exactly shouting it from the rooftops and waving a pride flag around. But I'm comfortable with who I am. Also with Kurt coming back to Mckinley, and Santana's new bully bashing thing, it feels things are at least moving towards being better.” Rachel explained.

Quinn was completely speechless. This was all too much to take. What was Rachel even saying? Did she want to be with her? What did she expect from Quinn? 

Wait.

She hadn’t even wanted to tell her. It's not like the girl was even saying she wanted to date or be with her, in fact, Quinn had practically forced it out of her.   
When she wasn’t ready. 

Well, now she felt like shit. 

And all her confidence in telling Quinn had been completely battered by her reaction. 

She was such a dick. She didn’t even know why she had reacted so strongly. 

It was just so confusing. 

She didn’t even know why it was confusing. Surely, she can just accept it and try to move on. Just tell Rachel she's not interested to help Rachel get over it. 

Why does that feel so bad? 

You can’t just lead Rachel on, that's cruel, were trying to be better. Remember? So just tell her and let her move on, it’s simple.

It doesn’t feel simple.

Why won’t you just say it, Quinn? Just say it.

“Quinn it's okay, I don't expect anything from you. I know you don't like me. I just want to be your frie-“

“How?” What are you doing? Quinn stop it.

“What?” Rachel said furrowing her brow.

“How do you know?” She said making eye contact with the brunette. 

“We-well, I thought you said you weren’t gay?” Rachel said looking even more confused. Quinn didn’t blame her. She honestly wasn’t making any sense. Her brain had completely disconnected from her mouth. Like, obviously she doesn’t like Rachel. It’s almost laughable. Almost. She's not laughing. Nobody's laughing. Rachels just looking at her with that adorable confusion and those deep, brown eyes. And- what? Stop it. 

“I'm not.” She blurted out, her tone suddenly very defensive, while holding her hands out and moving back a bit.

“It's okay Quinn, I'm not going to jump on you or anything, consent is important.” Rachel joked, clearly trying to ease the tension but Quinn's brain short-circuited. Had she just implied she wanted to kiss her? If Quinn wanted to? 

She didn’t. She definitely did not. No. Nope. Noooope.

Then why did she kind of want to.

Oh fuck.

This doesn’t make any sense at all. This is a dream. A weird, twisted, fever dream or something. Maybe she has the flu?

It’s spring. 

That's your only problem with this?

You’re the one with the problem.

What? I don't have a problem. I'm trying to stop you from leading on a friend. It’s cruel.

Yes, but we wouldn’t be having this crazy mental debate if you wanted to lead her on.

…

If you don't have the intention of leading her on. Then what are you doing?

I don't know, I've been trying not to.

For fucks sake. You’re a dumbass, you know that?

Screw you, you’re the one leading her on.

You’re not leading someone on if you like them.

Yes, I know but we don't. 

…

We don't.

….

Why aren’t you saying anything?

…

Oh god, we do, don't we?

There it is.

But- but- but were not gay? 

Oh yeah, cause we obviously we like boys. With their big, sweaty bodies, and rough lips. It's totally not weird that we had to get drunk to even consider sleeping with a guy. It makes loads of sense that you would prefer to think about ways to torture Rachel over being with Sam.

Well, now I just feel attacked. 

…

Yeah, but I was just trying to focus on myself-

By focusing on Rachel.

-AND I've been with like 3 guys. See. Not gay.

So you think about kissing them? And how cute they are? And how pretty their eyes are?

Well no, but I care about Finn, and Sams a nice guy.

So compare that feeling to how you’ve felt this evening. Around Rachel.

…

…

Oh shit. 

Is it over yet?

What?

The denial. I'm bored.

Screw you.

“Quinn?” Rachel said looking confused snapping her out of her insanity. 

“Oh my god, I think I'm gay.” She said before realizing she was speaking. Someone really needs to get that fixed.

“What?” Rachel said with wide eyes, not sure she'd heard her correctly. “B-but you just said.” Rachel pointed her finger at Quinn as if she was accusing her of lying. “You can’t just” Rachel frowned. 

Quinn was pretty sure to shed broken Rachel. Oddly it felt relieving, and right, saying those words. It kind of made sense. The fixation on Rachel. Her conveniently only ever dating guys on the football team. The dreams she refused to think about. Her intense jealousy of Finn, and her strong dislike of Jesse. Shed thought it was all about Finn but, thinking about it, she was so fixated on Rachel never getting him. She once said she would understand I he cheated on her but ‘just not with Rachel’. She was so fucking gay. 

Shit.

Had she just managed to compile her entire gay panic into one conversation? 

Yes, it was important.

Oh god, not you again. Okay, why was it important?

So you can… you know?  
Can… you know What?

Kiss the damn girl Fabray. 

What?

Kiss her you dumbass! 

Quinn once again was snapped out of her head, but not by Rachel this time. All she heard was “oh fuck it” come from her mouth before she found herself leaning forward and connecting their lips. 

Rachel took a second to react, gasping as she felt Quinn's lips on hers. Quinn put one hand on the back of the smaller girl's neck, caressing her cheek with the other. She relaxed at this, wrapping her arms around Quinn's neck, pulling her closer.

Rachel’s lips were so soft and delicate and she smelled like strawberries. Quinn just inhaled the girl's scent, drowning in the sensation of the girl's mouth on her own. Rachel pulled back for air, resting her head against Quinn’s. “Well, this has been an eventful night,” she said breathlessly.

They giggled and Quinn heard the angelic sound right next to her ear. She decided right then and there, that she never wanted to stop hearing it. 

“You can say that again.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know it progressed quite quickly but I wanted to make a story all set in one night and that's how I imagined it happening. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it :)


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